Their First Ketchup Fight
by laurendee
Summary: Jan and Michael have their first ketchup fight.


Disclaimer: I don't own The Office or it's characters. I'm just a girl who is in love with Michael and Jan's relationship. I had to act on the ketchup line Michael said in "Cocktails."

Author's note: The diner I mention is an actual diner off of I-78 that my boss's brother owns. Props to it! J It really is shaped like a train and has white lights. I can imagine M/J going there, too. I've started the fic with Michael and Jan talking outside and not in the car because they drove separately to the party.

"I want the ketchup fights."

"You want to stop at a diner?" Jan suggested, feeling bad about what she had said earlier, plus she really was hungry and they still had quite a drive back to Scranton from Parsippany, NJ.

"Jan we came here separately, remember?" Michael said in frustration. It still bothered him that they lived almost 3 hours apart. It wasn't her fault though, and he shouldn't take it out on her, so he softened his expression as he said, "I'd like for you to stay the weekend. Follow me on the drive back?"

"I'd prefer if we were in one car, but yeah, I will…" she said smiling as she headed to her car.

Michael's heart skipped a beat when he heard Jan say _"I'd prefer if we were in one car…"_. After all, he knew Jan wasn't the mushy-gushy type (yet, he thought to himself, he definitely planned on changing that), but a little comment like this meant the world to him…and then, she headed to her car without kissing him goodbye, and his momentary excitement was cut short.

"Hey, no kiss?" Michael said as he stopped dead in his tracks where they had been talking. He couldn't help himself. Sometime he still doubted his relationship with Jan, especially after her erratic behavior tonight.

Jan shook her head and smiled. These little soft expressions Michael had - never wanting to part without a kiss goodbye; insisting on saying "I love you" whenever the lights went out for the night -- although she did feel bad about this one, since she hadn't yet said it to him; or never forgetting to cut up a banana for her cereal, although never putting it in the bowl before Jan walked into the kitchen because he knew Jan hated when the banana got too soggy - they were all expressions that made her really like who he was.

Jan followed Michael for the first 20 minutes of the drive until they found a diner on I-78, about 30 minutes from the PA border. She heard her cell ring.

"Is this diner okay?" Michael asked cautiously.

Jan smiled to herself. Sometimes he still had this idea in his head that he needed to wine and dine her at only the fanciest of places, when really, all she needed was him.

"It's fine Michael."

"Wow, what a diner," Michael said upon seeing this really cool one, shaped like a train with lots of cars, with white Christmas lights hung on the outside in the caboose car.

"It definitely looks fancier than a diner," Jan said agreeing.

"Here we are, ma'lady, Michael said as he made his way around to Jan's car. Although she already had the door open and was halfway out, he held her back and grabbed her hand, trying to be the utmost gentlemen in the process as he brought her to her feet and shut her door.

Jan brought her face to his and smiled warmly. How he could go from acting like a goofball at the party to this handsome, mannered gentlemen would never stop baffling her.

"Ma'lady, do you want to share cheese fries?" Michael asked half jokingly as they perused the menu.

While Jan definitely didn't desire to have caviar or foie gras every night, she wasn't the type to order cheese fries, either. She was somewhere in between, more of a salad bar type-of-girl. Tonight, however, she decided to go for it. Not because she was dying to try these "oozing with cheese," as Michael put it, fries, but because she wanted to show him that he could relax more around her when they were alone. While he seemed fine in public, she noticed that at times, he seemed hesitant around her.

"Let's go for it," Jan said as convincingly as she could. To continue her trend of showing Michael another side of her, she ordered a chocolate shake instead of her usual club soda, and he, a strawberry one.

The shakes came first. "Mind if I take a sip?" Michael asked Jan after a few minutes.

She slid it over to him. Michael reached his hand out quickly so that he could briefly touch hers as she handed him the shake. Again, Jan smiled at Michael. Their gaze was interrupted by their cheese fries arriving.

"Alright Jan, are you ready??????" Michael asked as if he was an announcer at a ball game.

"Ready!" Jan said as excited as she could muster herself up to be.

"Go for it, dive in!"

With that, Jan apprehensively took a fry near the edge of the plate that didn't have a lot of cheese on it.

"Wimp!" Michael said. Jan blushed and smiled, hoping he wouldn't have noticed the fry of her choice. "Come on, you have to go for one of the massively loaded babies, like this," he said as he went in for a saturated fry and put it into his mouth. "Mmmm…delicious" he said, exaggerating his chewing.

"Okay, okay," Jan said as she took another fry on the edge. but dipped it into another fry's cheese. She popped it in her mouth, saying, "K?" with a laugh.

"You know, these aren't that bad," she said after a while.

"I can't believe you never had them," Michael said with disbelief. "Oh wait, that's right, you only grew up on escargot and the expensive stuff like that," Michael said playfully.

"Michael, that isn't true. Believe it or not, my childhood wasn't as grand as you think it was. I didn't grow up with millionaire parents. Just ones that knew how to fight with the best of 'em. I paid my way through school. My father left us when I was thirteen. My mom had some problems after that. We lost our house and moved in with my aunt. Things weren't great. They got even worse when I left for school. My mom thought I was selfish to leave her and my younger sister back in Arizona so that I could move on to 'bigger and better things' as she put it." Jan paused and looked directly at Michael, softening her expression as she saw the shock and concern in his facial features. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? I'm sorry. I had no idea, Jan. I was just assuming that since you're so well off now, that…"

"It was handed to me," Jan said as if she'd heard it a million times before.

"This just makes you all the more irresistible. My girl is so strong," Michael said sincerely.

"I'm sorry I never told you. It's just…I don't like to talk about it. My family and I still don't really see eye to eye on a lot. Anyway…"

"Well, again, I'm sorry. Go ahead, say the 'assume' joke to me."

"I won't. You're not an ass, Michael, even if sometimes you do assume things," Jan said winking. And then more seriously, "Michael, you know how you said you want to have ketchup fights?"

Michael nodded, unsure of where this was heading.

"Do they start like this?" Jan asked as she took some ketchup from the plate and smeared it onto Michael's cheek.

Michael couldn't help but laugh, totally not expecting Jan to do this after having such a serious conversation with him.

"Well…" Jan asked seductively when Michael's only response was to laugh. Obviously she wanted to break the somberness of talking about her past so Michael knew she was okay.

"That's one way, or, if you're daring, like this," Michael said as he took the ketchup bottle and squirted it at Jan. Ketchup landed on her dress. It was a big risk doing this, but Michael thought that maybe, after Jan's trying the cheese fries and telling him about her 'non grand' past, she wouldn't mind a little stain.

"You jerk!" Jan said laughing. Michael breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is everything okay here?" the waitress asked seeing what was going on.

"Yes, we're fine," Jan said still laughing. The waitress put the check on the table, obviously hinting that it was time for them to leave. She probably thought they were a couple of drunks stopping at a local diner until they sobered up. It wouldn't be the first time she saw something like this.

Michael reached for his wallet and got out the money to pay the bill.

"Thanks Michael, these were really good. I'm glad you introduced me to them," Jan said appreciatively. It also warmed her heart how Michael treated her out to eat so often. She made a mental note to show him some extra appreciation. She knew every time he paid the bill at a restaurant, he was trying to prove to her that he could, when really, the gesture of taking care of Jan was what really made her warm.

"That's not all I'm introducing you to, ma'lady, I think next will be a cheese steak. We'll have to stop by here on another journey."

"Actually," Jan said, a look of nostalgia coming over her face, "that one I can introduce you to. I know of a really good place on down the shore," she said smiling. Michael couldn't help but get giddy, first in thinking ofJan eating a cheese steak, second, in hopefully hearing more about Jan's past, and third, in imagining an outing at the Jersey shore with her.

After paying, they left, Michael still with ketchup on his face, Jan with it on her dress.

"You know, this sucks that we have to drive back separately," Jan said.

"I know, it does, but we'll be home soon," Michael said, suddenly feeling awkward about what he just said. He knew it was technically still just "his home," but he felt like it was Jan's, too. He sure wanted it to be. Plus he liked the way it sounded. To his thrill and relief, Jan replied, "I know." She looked at him, realizing what she had just said, feeling the same way as Michael. Awkward.

"I'm sorry about your dress," Michael said looking at the mess on it.

"Oh, it's okay," Jan said dismissing it with her hand, "I had a good time," she said smiling while nodding her head.

"Me, too."

"So I'll see you in about an hour and a half. Bye," Jan said, then leaned in and kissed his left cheek. Michael wondered why she hadn't kissed him on the lips, especially after what he thought ended up being a pretty good night.

As if she could read his mind, she said without turning around, "Check the mirror when you get in the car, Michael. I didn't want to smear it with a kiss on the lips."

He quickly got into the car, noticing that the ketchup Jan smudged his face with was actually in shape of a heart.

Whenever he thought of ketchup fights, he now thought of them in a more graceful and romantic manner, thanks to Jan. He, however, would now have to figure out a way to match her. Somehow, he didn't think squirting it on her dress was the romantic equivalent of Jan drawing ketchup in the shape of a heart on his cheek. At least he had enough time on the drive home to think of how to rematch Jan's amazing ketchup fighting ability. He smiled, thinking of all their future ketchup fights.


End file.
